health briefs

Take Vinegar to Lower the Blues Try Lavender and Valerian to Reduce Fatigue

Depression relief may be as close as the vinegar bottle on the kitchen shelf, according to a new study from Arizona State University involving 25 healthy college students divided into two groups. Fourteen drank two tablespoons of Bragg’s apple cider vinegar diluted in one cup of water twice daily with meals, while 11 students consumed a vinegar tablet that contained 1/100 as much vinegar twice daily. After four weeks, using psychological tests and urine samples, the researchers found a 20 to 34 percent reduction in self-reported depression scores from the test group compared to slight increases in depression in the control group. Several metabolic alterations were found consistent with improved mood, including enzymatic dysfunction in the hexosamine pathway, as well as significant increases in glycine, serine and threonine metabolism. “With over 40 percent of college students self-reporting moderate-to-severe depression—a 77 percent increase over the past decade—simple and safe strategies that effectively reduce depression in this population are urgently needed,” the authors write. Fatigue that hampers daily activities is a major symptom of heart failure, the leading cause of U.S. hospitalization for people over 65. To explore inexpensive and accessible herbal treatments, researchers at the Aja University of Medical Sciences, in Tehran, Iran, divided 120 heartfailure patients into three groups: one received aromatherapy, breathing in lavender essence every day; another took 530 milligram capsules of valerian root extract daily; and the third group had conventional medical therapy with no herbal supplementation. After 15 days, fatigue was significantly reduced in both herbal groups, while individuals receiving only conventional care did not experience a noticeable relief in fatigue.

Drink Coffee and Tea to Reduce Dementia and Stroke Risk

There’s good news for coffee and tea drinkers in recent research: consuming two to three cups a day of each beverage has been found to significantly lower the risk of stroke by 32 percent and of dementia by 28 percent compared to abstainers. Researchers from Tianjin Medical University, in China, analyzed a databank of 365,682 UK residents between 50 and 74 years of age that reported their coffee and tea consumption over 11 years and found that drinking both beverages in the course of a day correlates with a lower risk of stroke and dementia compared to drinking either one exclusively. Also, drinking three to six cups of coffee alone or in combination with tea was associated with a lower risk of poststroke dementia. “Coffee and tea are distinct beverages with both overlapping and different contents. One potential mechanism may be related to the combined protective role of the different antioxidants and other biological contents in these two beverages,” the study concluded.

Run 10 Minutes for a Brain Boost

Exercise is used by people of all ages to elevate a sluggish mood, and new research shows that a mere 10 minutes of moderate-intensity running also boosts cognitive function. In tests with 26 subjects, researchers from the University of Tsukuba, in Japan, found that a short burst of running improved the set of cognitive processes involved in planning, organizing and self-control by increasing blood flow to the bilateral prefrontal cortex. “Given that running is a whole-body locomotive exercise, it may confer more mental health benefits compared to other forms of exercise such as cycling,” says study author Hideaki Soya, Ph.D.

Eat Alpha Lipoic Acid-Rich Foods to Live Longer

A high dietary intake of foods containing alpha lipoic acid (ALA), a plant-based amino acid essential to the body’s metabolism, is associated with a 10 percent lower risk of death from all causes, an 8 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease death and an 11 percent lower risk of coronary heart disease, reports a new study in The

BMJ, a peer-reviewed medical trade journal published by the British Medical Association. An international team of researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 41 studies involving 1,197,564 participants that were followed for up to 32 years. They found that each additional gram per day of ALA (equivalent to one tablespoon of canola oil or a halfounce of walnuts) was linked to a 5 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease death. “A higher intake of ALA, however, was associated with a slightly higher risk of cancer mortality,” the researchers wrote. ALA is found in nuts, soybeans, canola oil, flaxseed, chia seeds and other food sources such as avocados, dairy products, navy beans and oatmeal.